A Second Chance
by The.Doctors.Lonely.Angel
Summary: Severus Snape knew he was dying. But what happens if he's given a chance to go back in time and change things?
1. Dying

AN/  
>Hi guys. This is my first ever fanfiction, so please be nice. I don't know much about writing them, this was just an idea I had.<br>I won't be updating really frequently, as I'm at college, but I'll try and do one each week.  
>Thanks :)<p>

* * *

><p>Severus Tobias Snape. Potions Master. Head of Slytherin House. Lily Evans' childhood best friend. Lily Evans' unrequited lover. The Half Blood Prince. Dumbledore's spy. Hogwarts Headmaster.<p>

All him. All his titles. They were meaningless now.

Lily Evans was dead. Dumbledore was dead. He had fled the school, while a battle was raging. A battle between good and evil – but where did he belong?  
>He had turned to the light when Lily Evans' life was in danger. Hers, her good-for-nothing husband, and her stupid brat, who looked exactly like his father.<p>

He was Dumbledore's spy from that moment. From the moment that she was threatened.

"Lily." He whispered. "Lily. I'm coming. I've been waiting seventeen years, but I'm finally coming."

He smiled his secret smile, that always belonged to Lily. She always said he looked happy when he smiled like that.

He felt himself slowly drifting away, away from this cruel world that he'd always known.  
>He opened his eyes for one last look at the world, and was met with Lily Evans's eyes.<p>

* * *

><p>"Look at me," he whispered. He grabbed Harry by his robes and pulled him down so he could whisper.<p>

"I'm sorry, Harry." Startled green eyes looked at him, and gently held his hand in his last few minutes.

A tear slowly trickled down his cheek, leaving it's silvery track. "Take them. Take my memories." He sighed audibly. "I'm sorry."

The green eyes met the black, and Severus Tobias Snape, that complicated man, moved no more.


	2. Mother

A blinding flash of light momentarily blinded him, followed by a dull sense of acceptance. He was dead. Finally. Finally he would see Lily – his Lily. She would greet him by reaching out her hand and grasping his, something he'd yearned for, for so long.

The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile; something he hadn't let himself do for a long time.

"Severus Tobias Snape! Stop pretending you are sleeping, when both of us know you ain't! Get up this instant!"

Severus grin faded into a grimace. That voice. He hadn't heard it for many years; yet it still made him cringe.

"Get up boy! Get up, I say!" He squinted and slowly opened his eyes.

There were no distinguishing marks around them room he was in. He wasn't even sure if he was indoors or not. All he could see was blinding white; except there.

She looked exactly the same as when he last saw her. Ratty hair, blackened eyes, ripped clothing. Except she was smiling; a thing he'd never seen. She stood before him, her posture hunched, but not as noticeable. Eileen Snape, nee Prince, his mother.

"Well, don't you have anything to say to your mother?" She screeched in what seemed, to her, to be nice and welcoming.

Snape winced. Her years with his father hadn't been kind to her. He had been a bully and a drunk, yet she still loved him. After living with him for so many years, she even started to sound like him. Not her lovely cultured accent, full of rounded sounds, but that nasally cockney accent, which dominated his household.

"I am sorry Mother. It is very nice to see you again." He replied to her monotonously, while dusting invisible dust from his robes.

"Humph. I assume you thought you were going to see your Lily" she sneered, "here. Well unfortunately for you, she was busy looking over her son, and whatnot. You know, the battle?"

He nodded dismally. "Not to be offensive, Mother, but what are you doing here? And where exactly is here?" He said, looking around.

"Ah. I have been elected to be your guide. As for where you are, you are where you are supposed to be before the choice. The Life After Death stage is what they call it."  
>"Choice? What choice? I have a choice? About what?"<p>

"Quiet boy! All will be told! They have decided that you finally showed your true self, so they have granted you access to your past. Remember, there is no going back from this choice. You can either, go back in time, to your younger self, and maybe live your life again, or you may go forward and live for eternity."  
>"Mother, do you mean to tell me, that I have the chance to go back in time and fix everything between me and Lily?"<br>"Yes Severus, if that is what you truly wish. You need only to speak the words 'let it be done', and you will be sent back in time to re-live your life, albeit in a different manner."

Severus pushed past her and stood in the middle of the space. He raised his arms high and shouted in a voice that made the mountains tremble.

"Let it be done!"

His robes started billowing furiously around him and his hair was being whipped everywhere as gale-force winds thrashed around the space.

The brightness was slowly dimming, and before everything went dark, he swore he could heard his mother whisper, "be careful, my son", but it could have just been the wind.

He cast one last glance towards his mother, their two pairs of lack eyes meeting, one shining with hope; the other with concern.

He smiled a ghost of a smile towards her and then it all turned black.

Everything was silent.

He was back.


	3. Back In Time

"Severus? Severus! Get up! We're off to Hogwarts today! Can you believe it?"  
>He smirked to himself as he slowly got out of bed. Trust Lily to be over at his house before nine o'clock.<p>

Lily… Lily! Impossible!  
>He rushed over towards his trunk. There, labelled clearly, his robes were stitched in his mother's delicate hand, 'Severus T Snape. First Year. 1971.'<p>

He grinned to himself. He was back. Back in time. He was a child. He still had his mother. He still had Lily. He smiled giddily to himself and he threw open his bedroom door, to be accosted by a small excited redhead.

He gasped as she flung her arms around his waist and squeezed.  
>"Lily! Calm down! No need to die from excitement yet! We still haven't even left for Kings Cross!"<br>He gently tried to coax her into a steady breathing rhythm.

"Can you believe it, Sev? After all this time; we're finally going?" She giggled as they spun around in a circle with his mother looking on fondly. He looked over towards her and she smiled encouragingly. Lily beamed at him as he took her by the hand and they ran outside into the streaming sunshine.

"Be back soon children! And be safe!" his mother called to them.


	4. Thinking About Change

They ran so far and so fast; it almost seemed like they were flying. Finally they collapsed onto a grassy hill giddy with joy and hope for their futures.

"Sev?" Lily turned her face towards him with her features screwed up in concentration.

"Hmm?"  
>"What you sad. About me being muggleborn. Will it change anything?<br>"What do you mean Lils?"  
>"Well we're not accepted much…"<br>"Lily Mare Evans. People will love you! Just wait and see!"  
>Severus inwardly cringed. He remembered all about James Potter and his friends.<p>

"Thanks Sev. You're my best friend."  
>"And you are mine."<br>"And we'll always be best friends right?"  
>"Right. Always." His emotions flew. He was her best friend and he would not screw it up this time.<p>

She sighed in contentment She had her magic and her best friend by her side. What more could she want?

"Come on! We'll have one last go on the swings and then we'll go back home to finish getting ready."  
>She swiped at the grass stains on her skirt pulled on his hand so that he stood up and followed her down the hill.<p>

* * *

><p>Severus used to visit those swings every week since she had died. But she hadn't died. Not yet. <em>I can still change things<em>, he thought_, it doesn't have to end that way this time._

He shook his head to get rid of those thought, and enjoyed his last few minutes with Lily before they left for Hogwarts.

"We should go and see if you're parents are ready, Lil. I know mine mother is."

He smiled at her and they slowly walked back towards Lily's house.

* * *

><p>Severus loved Lily's house, especially when Petunia wasn't there. Marie Evans was a gentle woman who had taken care of him when things got too bad at home. She had taught him to cook, to garden, and most of all, she had taught him to love.<p>

She had died during Lil's seventh year, and neither of them got to say goodbye. _But not this time.  
><em>Severus smiled as Marie gather him in her arms and gave him a long hug.

"Ready kids? Just think of it as an adventure!"

Lily grabbed his hand as they jumped in the car with their mothers and drove towards Hogwarts, towards the start of their new life.


	5. Kings Cross

"We're off to King's Cross! We're off to King's Cross!" Lily bounced on the leather upholstery of her father's car in excitement.  
>"Lily. Stop that now, or I will drop you back home." Her mother said in exasperation.<br>Her father gazed sternly at her from his rear-view mirror, bur his lips soon twitched into a smile. Lily's excitement was infectious.  
>None of them noticed the jealous face that belonged to Petunia, pressed up against the upstairs bedroom window.<p>

"Come on Sev!" Lily pulled on his arm anxiously. "We have to find a seat!"  
>"Lily." Severus said patiently. "It's only 10:30. We've got plenty of time to find a seat! Besides, we have to get all of our luggage onto the platform too."<br>"Oh yeah." The thought hadn't occurred to Lily.

"Now, Lilykins, promise you'll write to us once a week while you get settled in," Richard Evans said while pulling his youngest daughter into a warm hug.  
>"I promise."<br>"You too Severus, we want to hear from you too!" Marie Evans turned towards him as she finished straightening Lily's cardigan.  
>"Yes, Mrs Evans." He smiled at her.<p>

"Alright! Enough chitchat. Time to go now!" Eileen was never one for goodbyes..  
>"Goodbye sweetheart! We'll miss you!" Richard and Marie waved goodbye, as Marie wiped a tear from her eye at seeing her baby girl go off on her own.<br>"Bye Mum! Bye Dad! Don't worry about me! I've got Sev. He'll make sure I'm alright."  
>Lily and Severus turned in time to follow Eileen through the seemingly solid brick wall.<p> 


	6. Introductions

The Hogwarts Express gleamed copper in the September sunlight as the smoke leaved from the funnel in the engine pit.  
>"Here," thought Severus. "Here is where I belong."<br>Eileen turned to face Lily and Severus. "Here is where I leave you children. Find an empty compartment, and I will see you at Christmas."  
>She quickly kissed the top of Severus's head, and ruffled Lily's hair, which she immediately tried to brush back down into some semblance of normality.<br>With one last glance towards the two of them, Eileen departed through the wall.

_No going back now, Severus thought. A brand new start. That's what I need. A brand new start. And I have Lily with me._ As he was pondering these thoughts, a large black kneazle streaked through his legs and tripped him up.  
>"Hold him! Please! Can someone catch him!" A young arrogant voice called from somewhere on the platform.<br>"Over here, Siri! Someone's caught him!" A second voice joined that of the first as two small, black haired boys rushed up to Severus.  
>"Thank you so much! You caught him!" The first boy said to Severus as he helped him up. "I'm so sorry about that. He likes to cause a fuss. I'm Sirius Black, and I see you've already met Aloysius."<br>Severus studied him closely. His apparent good looks were already surfacing with puberty; however he had an easy smile and seems less egotistical than Severus remembered. He then turned his attention to the second boy, who was helping dust down his back.  
>"And I'm James Potter," he said, as a second kneazle, this one brown, came tearing up that platform and jumped into his arms, "and this is Sinatra." James's hair was still as fly-away as ever, yet he too seemed less arrogant than last time. <em>New start<em>, Severus mused, _new start. And who knows? Maybe we can all change._  
>"I'm Severus Snape," he introduced, smiling timidly at the two, and this is..."<br>"...Lily Evans." Lily interrupted, after being ignored for the last few minutes. "How do you do?"  
>The two boys smiled at each other wickedly.<br>"Oh, how do you do? Look out Jamesy, we're in the presence of royalty! Very well, Lady Lily, and how are you?" Sirius said with a curtsy.  
>"May I kiss your hand, your Worship?" James joined in.<br>Lily let off a peal of laughter, but nevertheless replied, "You may, Sir James."  
>James took Lily's hand, but instead of kissing it, gave it a massive lick, which made Lily squeal in surprise and disgust and wipe her hand on Severus's sleeve.<br>"Eww. You're weird. Sir James of Weird."  
>"James is a weirdy, a weirdy, a weirdy..." Sirius sang.<br>"Shut up," James nudged him playfully.

"James Potter, do not be annoying other First Years already. And do not get detention! You haven't even been on the train yet!" A voice yelled from across the platform.  
>"I'm not doing anything, Mum! Not yet anyway!"<br>"Well, get on the train then! It's almost 11 o'clock!"  
>James turned to Severus and Lily.<br>"Would you two like to sit with us on the train? We haven't got a compartment yet, and you don't either."  
>"It would be our pleasure, milady, sir," Sirius curtsied yet again.<br>Severus and Lily looked at each other and smiled.  
>"Why not?" <p>


End file.
